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It has been 20 years since the first commercial application of SGML was launched by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for its Electronic Manuscript Project. Defining an SGML representation for journal articles was one of the project’s objectives. Since then a series of attempts have been made to develop standards for the publishing industry to encode article content and metadata. This article traces the development of these SGML and XML‐based standards.

Within the library world, there is a growing interest in the use of XML in journals, not least because of its implications for e‐journal archiving. But what is actually happening in the commercial journals market? How far have XML and its related standards permeated the production of real commercial journals and how do publishers and other providers of journals see this area developing? This paper looks at the activities and future plans of a selection of publishers and aggregators in the STM journals market, although many of the comments relate to the entire journals arena.

The use of XML in the lifecycle of e‐journals has recently emerged as a hot topic in the library world. This burst of interest is largely due to proposals to use XML in e‐journal archiving and also a growing awareness of the advantages of XML for metadata. But the publishing community are increasingly viewing XML as playing a central role in the future of the entire e‐journals process. The papers in this special issue cover a breadth of opinion but there is a common theme; namely, that XML and its related technologies can help to fulfil the promise of e‐journals.

SIR KENNETH KEITH, chairman of the merchant bankers Hill, Samuel & Co Ltd, has been appointed chairman of Rolls Royce (1971) Ltd and K. G. WILKINSON, previously chief executive and chairman of BEA, has been appointed managing director.

We ask people ad nauseum to behave in one manner; yet when they do they are punished, or some competing behaviour is rewarded. Witness the case of the salesman who is asked to push a new line of copier equipment. To demonstrate the equipment may be punishing because:

The purpose of this paper is to analyse time-series change of the competitiveness of leading companies of the sector based on their financial position regarding the period of financial crisis.

First, high level of revenue concentration was proved; consequently, strong competitive situation among few competitors was realised. Corporations having three common features (high amount of equity, high revenue and diversified product structure) were included in the sample. As the methodological background financial parameters were assigned to the definition of corporate competitiveness, and then comparative and comprehensive financial analysis of competitors was accomplished. Using relevant studies, liquidity based on balance sheets and cash flow statements, working capital processes, conventional and cash-flow based profitability were analysed.

It was proved that sample companies continuously improved the efficiency of working capital management indicated by the decrease of the average cash conversion cycle from 45 to 23 days. It was realised that there is a Hungarian-owned firm having outstanding financial performance; consequently, it has significant position among competitors. This company has further opportunity to increase its market share and competitiveness in the future. Finally, important characteristics of the sector were identified concerning the low level of technological improvements (the average ratio was below 3 per cent of the revenue), and unfavourable profitability processes.

In this paper, a separate analytic framework is established in view of the application of financial indicators to analyse competitiveness. This kind of analysis was not executed before in this sector.

As may be evident from its sub‐title, Text Retrieval 86, the fourth text retrieval seminar organised by the Institute of Information Scientists (IIS), was targeted at an application area which is becoming topical in many organisational environments — the linking of office automation (OA) techniques, word processing, e‐mail, database management, etc. with full text software packages capable of storing massive amounts of data. The hardware and software to do this are available and several commercial systems claim to provide complete integration. Yet as the seminar programme stated, little consideration has so far been given to, ‘… the organisation, storage and retrieval of the mass of information which will be fed into them.’

Literature on the relationship between social performance and economic performance of social enterprises has long been inconclusive. This paper aims to investigate whether and, if so, how social performance contributes to economic performance of social enterprises. Specifically, drawing from the resource-based view and signalling theory, the study examines how the development of reputation, which enables social enterprises to signal the enterprises' stakeholders' commitment towards social causes, mediates the relationship between the two.

Employing a quantitative research design, data were collected from a sample of 164 social enterprises in the UK and analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM).

The results illustrate that whilst the direct relationship between social and economic performance is inconclusive, social performance contributes indirectly to improve economic performance through improving social enterprise reputation.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first of this kind in the context of social enterprises which sheds light on the long-standing conflicting literature on the relationship between the dual objectives (i.e. social and economic) by providing reputation as the mediating variable.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of perplexity in young players’ experiences within an educational videogame and how reflective thinking can help them to get out of perplexing scenarios.

We used a constructivist grounded theory approach and the lenses of Dewey’s conceptualization of perplexity and reflective thinking to examine young players’ in-game experiences.

We find that perplexity in gameplay is an experience that occurs when players encounter uncertainty about where to go or what to do next in the game. Findings reveal that while playing an educational game players engaged in two forms of perplexity – exploration-based and puzzle-based. Additionally, we unpack how players overcome these perplexing scenarios by reflecting on the information provided in the game.

While in a state of perplexity, reflecting on the in-game information aids players to think and make meaning, thus supporting learning. We provide suggestions for how to better utilize perplexity as an in-game design mechanism to encourage young players to reflect on in-game information.

This empirical study is original in its context of studying the phenomenon of perplexity in videogames and young players’ in-game reflection experiences.